One example of an organisation leading the way in switching its employees onto greater energy saving is Pembrokeshire County Council.

Working with Carbon Trust Wales, Pembrokeshire County Council has recently elected energy champions at each of its 11 leisure centres across the county to ensure that staff go that extra mile to reduce the council's corporate carbon footprint and costs through greater energy efficiency.

Energy manager at Pembrokeshire County Council, Steve Keating, said: "The energy audit conducted by Carbon Trust Wales early this year identified leisure centres as the highest energy users in our public building stock. So this was a logical starting point for change.

"Harnessing the Carbon Trust's expertise, we held energy efficiency workshops for leisure centre managers and staff. Energy champions were elected at each site to set specific energy saving goals and drive staff commitment to reducing our carbon footprint through greater energy efficiency. Progress and achievements will be monitored across the year with the aim of rolling out this project to other areas under council control such as education.

"Getting people to buy into the energy efficiency agenda is key. Local authority energy managers can't be everywhere at once, but ensuring on-site personnel are 'energy aware' means they become the eyes and ears of the energy saving agenda and can take immediate action to eliminate energy and water wastage. The enthusiasm of our leisure centre energy champions has been fantastic and some excellent ideas for further energy saving have already been suggested by on site staff."

A good example of this carbon management best practice in action is Tenby Leisure Centre. Under the direction of nominated energy champion, Daniel Mumford, supported by leisure centre manager, Rob Thomas, the centre has committed to reducing its total energy consumption by 10 per cent for the financial year 2009/10 which should boost its current Display Energy Certificate rating from C to B grade.

Energy champion, Daniel Mumford, said: "Following our site audit and energy saving workshop with Carbon Trust Wales this January, we have developed an energy efficiency action plan, involving the whole leisure centre team on a daily basis, to help us achieve our 10 per cent energy reduction goal. Buy-in from the team has been fantastic. From our receptionists and lifeguards to the cleaners and duty officers, everyone is committed to doing their bit to reduce our carbon and energy use.

"Each team now works with an energy prompt sheet that summarises key energy efficient behaviours specific to their role and as energy champion, it's my job to make sure such housekeeping is adhered to. For example, our receptionists monitor lighting and ensure that unused lights are switched off. Our lifeguards ensure that the pool is covered to minimise heat loss and water evaporation when not used for over 30 minutes.

"Similarly, duty officers now turn the heating off in rooms not used for long periods of the day - such as our dance studio. They also know to manually switch off the ventilation in the gym each night to conserve energy. And our general support staff is also doing their bit by ensuring that all computers and lighting are switched off each night and extra layers such as fleeces are worn instead of turning up the room thermostat."

And the commitment to energy saving doesn't stop there. The leisure centre management team has also started implementing process changes to support behavioural change. Following the installation of new gas boilers and BMS controls lighting has been switched to energy saving light bulbs, vending machines fitted with time switches that turn off at night, full recycling facilities for waste paper, cans and bottles provided throughout, variable speed drives fitted to pool pumps to conserve energy, and dilapidated pool hall glazing has been replaced with thermally efficient daylight diffuse panels.

Centre cleaning is now done under half-lighting to save energy and processes such as pool backwashing, are now regulated to increase energy efficiency. The leisure centres gas, electric and water usage is now monitored monthly to allow the management team to identify and troubleshoot any spikes in consumption. For example, an unusual monthly rise in water consumption might be down to a burst pipe or leak, which can be promptly isolated and repaired.

Leisure centre manager, Rob Thomas said: "Although it's still early days in our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, the response from our staff has been outstanding. Everyone is totally engaged in doing their bit to make a difference and we're confident that we'll have reached our reduction target by April next year. We also hope that our energy saving actions will inspire other organisations to follow our lead in becoming more carbon efficient as well as reducing costs."

Dave Moore, account manager at Carbon Trust Wales, concluded: "Pembrokeshire council's energy champions are a great example of how everyone in an organisation or business can do their bit to actively reduce both operating costs and the corporate carbon footprint by becoming more energy savvy in the workplace. And we hope that employees across other public and private sector organisations will be inspired to go that extra mile to curb carbon emissions and combat climate change."

For more information on how the Carbon Trust can help businesses, call the helpline on 0800 085 2005 or visit the Carbon Trust website: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk">www.carbontrust.co.uk.